A place to call home? Maybe, prime minister

Finding a Melbourne mansion for the PM won't be easy,
but there are options. John Elder reports.

WANTED: a weekender fit for royalty. This is essentially what
Michael Kroger and his bipartisan "Melbourne Lodge" associates are
looking for. A place the Prime Minister can call his own when in
town, with plenty of room for a visiting US president, and no
tripping over each other on late night walks to the bathroom.

The Melbourne Lodgers plan to pay for the prime ministerial
residence out of their own pocket. The idea seems to be, "if we buy
it, the people will come"  "the people" being the PM and his
international visitors. So how much are the Melbourne Lodgers
willing to spend?

Mr Kroger is keen on Stonington Mansion in Glenferrie Road, the
Governor's residence in the days when Melbourne was the capital of
a brand new nation.

The exterior could do with a polish but the period interior
detail is beautiful, notably the stained glass windows. Best of
all, in the backyard are some coin-operated barbecues of the sort
you find in parks  and easily converted to take foreign
currency. US presidents just love a barbecue.

Mr Kroger's group reportedly made a nowhere bid for Stonington
during the stoush last year to keep the heritage-listed property in
public hands. In December, Hamton Property Group bought the
three-hectare Deakin University site, including the mansion, for
$33 million.

Last month, art dealer Rodney Menzies offered $18 million for
Stonington and negotiations were said to be entering final stages.
It seemed the deal was done. In fact, it won't be done for another
two weeks and there's time enough for Kroger and co to make a
winning offer, according to a source close to the sale, which has
been handled "off-market". "It's not too late for them to get a bid
in, but they better be mighty quick," he says.

And if the Melbourne Lodgers can't produce $20 million or so in
a few days?

"That's the point. Stonington Mansion is probably their best
option," says the insider. "There are, at most, 30 properties in
Melbourne that could do the job, but Stonington is the only one for
sale You'll find nothing available in Toorak for $15 million
and upwards. I suppose they could try in South Yarra but the
properties aren't as big."

It just happens that a white palace on the largest residential
land-holding in South Yarra is for sale: "Saint Cloud" at 61
Kensington Road and within the Lodgers' budget at $12.5
million.

"It'd do the job beautifully," says Jock Langley of Abercromby's
real estate. "Very private and exclusive, because it sits on the
end of what's called 'the knoll' 5437 square metres of land,
100 squares of living. Six bedrooms with ensuite. North-south
championship tennis court. Botanical gardens But they've
probably left their run too late. It looks like we might have sold
it."

Echoing other estate agents, Mr Langley says "the top end of the
market is the tightest it's ever been with a huge amount if
money coming offshore. We just sold a house to an expat for more
than $5.5 million, sight unseen. We've been marketing properties
exclusively offshore."

Anything for the PM's benefactors? "We'd happily show them a
couple of homes. I'm sure we could dig something up in the $10
million range. If they've got their eye on something specific that
isn't on the market, we'd be happy to knock on the door and ask
what it would take to get the owners out. We do a fair bit of that
You get a few knock-backs but you get a few wins too."

The Sunday Age tried knocking on a few doors  or
rather, pressing the buzzers at the iron gates of a few Toorak
mansions, but the conversations were brief and fruitless. We also
looked at various properties on blue-chip real estate websites, but
couldn't find anything prime ministerial.

"There are plenty of big-money houses that the public never
sees," says Mr Langley. "There's a whole process that the Prime
Minister would have to go through to see some of these places. The
owners are very private people. And some of them mightn't want the
publicity."

Sean Cullers of Marshall White reckons there is no secret stash
of mansions in the Melbourne market.

"Whenever there's a big sale, the public hears about it. In the
last five years you can count them on one hand. We sold Sir
Reginald Ansett's property at Mount Eliza last year for $12.5
million  a great property, but too far away from the city for
a Prime Minister's residence. It will be very tough to find
something suitable." What about Brighton? "Again, too far away from
the city. Toorak or maybe East Melbourne are the only real options,
I'd imagine."

This opens up the possibility of relieving the Anglican Church
of Bishopscourt, the bluestone and brick pile overlooking Fitzroy
Gardens that has housed bishops for more than a century.

But Stewart Lopez of Kay & Burton disagrees: he has the
"perfect" house, a domed deco-style mini-mansion in Kinane Street,
Brighton. Cheap at $4 million-plus, he says.

"They call it 'millionaire's row', so it's got the pedigree and
privacy," says Mr Lopez. "The walls are concrete, so no risk of
hidden microphones. In fact, it's probably nuclear-bomb proof. But
elegant, very elegant A tennis court where you can land a
chopper. The beach nearby where he can walk on the sand instead of
the footpath better for the knees." Mr Lopez is awaiting the
Lodgers' call.